Hunters To Hunted
by AedanRyche
Summary: It has been two full years since the ending events of My Little Zombies, and Equestria is on the precipice of disaster. With Eric controlled by a powerful spirit and Leoj, Mat and Sapphire on the run with Black Dragon after being framed with an assassination attempt, will all go according to the prophesy, or was the ancient Chronos wrong? M for lang, alch, drug & gore


**I do not own My Little Pony. All rights reserved to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.**

Three armored humans ran through the streets of a city of white stone, watching for anything that might see them. Each one was issuing silent orders, five other humans coming up and running past them into some alleyways in the industrial district of the town. The three separated, each lugging a large anti tank rifle in their arms as they entered individual alleyways. The one in blue climbed a large five story office building, sinking the claws in their hands and feet into the concrete. One in crimson was scaling a warehouse, arriving at the top and dropping into a low crawl as they approached the edge. One in white had launched into the air, taking position above the rest on top of the exchange tower.

"This is clockwork," The white one said to the other's over an encrypted radio channel. "The event is about to start and Firebird has taken the stage. Line up your shots, this may be our only chance." The male voice cut his line, setting up the bipod on his rifle and laying down on the roof. He looked around the area, finding the blue soldier in position, as was the crimson one. He set up his line of sight, his jammer blocking anything from seeing him other than a pair of eyes. He set his crosshairs on a man in a suit of black armor and a white cloak, his helmet removed. The human was talking into a microphone, working the crowd into a frenzy.

"Last night, we were betrayed," The man in black said to the crowd, getting startled expressions. "As you know by now, Hunter Squad has defected to the side of the rebel faction known as Black Dragon. This took place during a briefing with our beloved Princesses, resulting in both of them being injured severely. They will live, but I have been charged with continuing this nations safety. For the time being, I will be in charge of all political and military actions. The Council of Three will continue to deal with the domestic concerns of the population, and shall have full governance over all towns from Southpony to Northpony." He looked across the crowd, watching the worried expressions of the ponies before him. 'These ignorant sheep,' he thought. 'They hear of a rebellion and cry out for help from anything that can put it down.' He felt something watching him other than the crowd, turning his vision in time to see three flashes in the distance. He raised his hand, sweeping it before the distant flashes. Three loud rings were heard by the crowd, a burst of sparks issuing from the mans hand. He raised his arm up, three large forty caliber bullets in between his knuckles.

"Shit," The blue soldier said as the man wrapped his cloak around himself. The target disappeared, the crowd shocked. "We have to move!" the female voice yelled into the radio. "All units, Over the walls and into the tree line! Return to your respective hiding areas until we contact you for further deployment!" She set an explosive charge on the rifle, jumping into the air and activating the thrusters in her back and boots. Three other suits of armor joined her, banking right and out of the city. "That was close Leoj," She said over the radio. "He almost got…" She was cut off as an unseen force drove her out of the sky, forcing her into the ground.

The man in black removed his cloak, letting it be drawn into his armor. "**Those would have been good shots,**" The man said, compressing his helmet. The man stared at her with golden yellow eyes, grasping her right arm and leg. "Too bad my armor is better than your beta suits!" He yelled, tearing the limbs from her body. The woman screamed in pain as her mechanical limbs were ripped from their sockets, the artificial nerve connections sparking in the empty holes. The man turned his vision up to the sky, planting a boot on the woman's armored chest as he saw two more suits coming down at him. "You know you can't best me!" He yelled at them, activating a blade of energy on his wrist and placing it in the center of the woman's helmet visor. "Leave or I _will_ kill her!" the armored humans stopped mid flight, hovering where they were.

"I swear to what ever god there is Eric," The crimson one said, stretching his clawed and bare hands. "If you lay one injury on her, I will tear you apart myself!" The blue visor of the humans helmet turned red. Eric waved him off, retracting the energy blade.

"You have my word that she will not be harmed," the man named Eric said, his cloak covering his body once more. "Physically that is," He said, giggling insanely as he picked up the blue soldier and closed the cloak. Eric disappeared again, the crimson soldier loosing a hail of plasma from his shoulder mounted launchers into the wide road. The cobblestones lit up in a blaze of red fire, nothing but the flames moving.

"Mat!" The white suit screamed at him, distinguished as Leoj. "Calm yourself! We have to get out of here with the rest of Black Dragon so we can get her back!" The crimson soldier huffed in anger, throwing a satchel into an open window. Mat turned his view away from the city, rocketing into the sky as the building he deposited the satchel in exploded.

Eric threw the limp and unconscious soldier into a dungeon cell, locking the door behind himself. "Almost a year now," he spoke as the human rose into a single armed lean, shaking their head. Eric stormed up to the human, grasping the armored soldier by the chest plate and lifting them into the air. He grabbed the other's helmet, pulling it up and off. The woman's long, glowing blue hair fell down in a mess, covering her shoulders and face. "Tell me, Sapphire. When did Leoj grow a pair and think he could take me? I don't care how many things your lackeys can control with a thought. None of them can stop me." The woman lifted her head, holding her chin high and staring into her captors eyes. She spat on his face, chuckling as he threw her to the wall.

"You think this was Leoj's idea?" She asked, pushing herself into a sitting position against the wall. "You think that little kid could come up with something as elaborate as this?" She laughed again, shaking her head. "You should know, Insanity hasn't helped your grasp on the obvious Eric." The man, slapped her with the back of his armored fist, knocking a tooth out. Sapphire fell over, lifting her face from the floor to spit out the pooling blood. "Son of a bitch…" She muttered, coughing.

"A year since I began my vie for power in Equestria," Eric said, breaking open the control panel on the back of her suit and typing in a command. The suit shuddered and dropped to the ground, taking Sapphire with it. The energy source, two prisms of Devnium nine ten, lifted out of the suit. Eric took the steaming crystals, handing them through the bars so a pony guard could have them stored. "I have every single one of these creatures under my thumb. So the only thing that could want me gone is another human." Eric picked her up again, holding her with one arm. "Now tell me which one of you is the brains. Can't be Mat. He may be smart, but he can't see past his anger. If it isn't Leoj, then it must be one of Black Dragon. If not one of them, then it's you. And if that is the answer, then you are no longer a threat." Eric placed his other hand on the chest piece, tearing it in half. The armor fell apart now, shingles and bands sliding off. When the clamor ceased, he let her go and walked to the door. "I hope you like this cell," He said, opening the door and calling two guards over. "Because you'll be here for quite a while." Eric slammed the door shut, Sapphire laying back on the ground as the two guards removed the scraps of her destroyed armor.

"I just don't understand," Rainbow Dash said, sitting in a chair beside Eric. "The others, they were so kind to us. And then they decide to attempt an assassination on the princesses for what… Power? Money?" She shook her head, not finding any consistency in the attack. She had been there with the others during the briefing, almost loosing a wing from the blast had she not been wearing her armor. Eric shrugged, running a gloved hand through his hair.

"Humans do strange things, Dash," He said, his demeanor changed completely from before. "One day they could be as happy as possible, the next they're committing mass murder or blowing up their home." he held her hoof, squeezing it gently. "But, like all radical movements they either succeed or fail miserably." He let go of her hoof, getting up as a doctor walked in.

"They should make it," The doctor said, his expression grim. "But the wounds put them both into a coma. If they weren't Alicorns I doubt they would have survived." He handed Eric a chart, letting him look it over. It had the last half hour of EEG and EKG read outs. They were stable and showed signs of recovery.

'Dammit,' Eric thought as he looked over the chart. 'I should have doubled the explosive payload in that table.' He gave the chart back to the doctor, nodding politely. "When do you suspect they will come out?" He asked, his anxiety about the day hidden. The doctor shrugged, unsure.

"It's more of an if, really," The pony said, Eric concealing his relief. "And if they do, I suspect a miracle would be involved." The doctor made his excuses, leaving the waiting room. Dash let out a groan of sadness for her monarchs, feeling helpless to their aid. Eric feigned exasperation and failure, continuing the madness' pretense. He leaned against a wall, sliding into a sit and holding his brow against the balls of his hands.

"How did we miss a bucking bomb," Dash asked. "Especially one of that size." Eric shook his head, staying somber for a moment longer before standing again. He walked over to the cyan pegasus, taking her hoof and bringing her to her hooves. She stared at the ground for a moment, returning her vision to his after thinking. "Are we bad subjects?" She asked. "Are we in the wrong for letting them come to harm?" Eric knelt before her, resting his weight on his right knee. He held her face in his hand, stroking her cheek with a thumb.

"No one could have noticed it," He assured her. "Especially under the circumstances. We were all rushed and hadn't thought to check for any danger. It isn't our fault," Dash closed her eyes, a tear falling in defeat. Eric held back a smile at her discomfort, forced to continue his ruse. "Hey, come now," He wiped the tear away, lifting her face slightly. "It isn't your fault. If anyone is to blame it would be Black Dragon." She nodded meekly, kissing his hand softly. "And I promise you, each and every one of them will be brought to justice. You have my word Dashie."

Mat and Leoj rocketed toward Southpony, towards their base of operations now that Eric had framed them with sowing dissent. They passed over the grasslands between their previous location and their destination. They had gathered the remaining humans, carrying them underneath on a platform as they flew. Their destination began to loom on the horizon, a volcanic mountain range just north of the dense jungle. Mat and Leoj traded looks, knowing they had failed when Sapphire was captured. Leoj motioned to the five humans below him, signaling for them to don their respirators. The ash cloud hit them as they arrived at the range, clouding their vision and throwing their sensors off. IR and thermal was out, meaning if they hadn't flown this route twenty times they would have hit a mountain side.

They navigated the volcanoes with practiced ease, not worried about anything following them in. The two began to descend, placing the platform with Black Dragon before a cave. As the soldiers dismounted, Leoj and Mat landed, following the humans into the dead volcano. They walked through the cavern's tunnels, navigating towards the emptied magma chamber. The heat was sweltering, their ears popping as the pressure increased with their descent. The magma chamber opened before them, revealing a lone figure in the center on a large cushion. The figure was pony-kind, a long and sharp horn on it's brow and a desk before it. The pony released the magic from a quill it was writing with, turning it's horned head toward them before speaking.

"You have returned but the flow of time has not been altered," it spoke, the voice deep, popping and booming in the massive chamber of granite and obsidian. The seven soldiers knelt and placed their fists over their hearts in a gesture of fealty as the being rose from its seat. "Tell me, humans… Why is this so?" The unicorn unfurled its wings as it entered the view range of a torch, fully revealing it's self as an Alicorn. The Alicorn stood two head higher than most humans, his maneline reaching a height of nine feet. His coat was a mat gray, two shades and a hue lighter than the granite of the cave. His Cutie Mark was that of an Infinity symbol surrounded with a violet vortex. His eyes were clouded by cataracts, not a hint of color left in his irises or pupil.

"Master," Leoj said, leaning back just far enough to remove his helmet and set it on the ground. "The dark one was prepared and more agile than we had first perceived. Even our most powerful weapons were not enough to end him. If we could possibly have another…" The Alicorn cut him off with a stomp of a hoof.

"You shall not harm the usurper in a way that mortally wounds the savior!" He demanded, stomping another hoof. "If the wrong that has been done by Nocturne is to be righted then Doctor Johnson must be saved! This madness was corrupted by Luna's foolish attempt to intervene in events that had been predetermined, leaving the savior of this world to become the downfall of this verse! I know you have foreseen it my pupil, why have you not paid heed to the pattern I have revealed to your eyes?" Leoj shrunk slightly from his teacher, recovering and holding his ground at the question.

"May I speak freely, lord?" he asked, receiving a nod. Leoj thought over what he was about to say carefully, knowing the being before him had the power to end time and begin anew. "The pattern I see leads only to the loss of the solar system. As long as the good man we know as Eric still lives then the pattern shows only death and destruction. When we fired on him, it would have only wounded him to the point that we could have separated the madness from him. The pattern shifted just before we attacked, showing that the verse would live." Mat took off his helmet now, the Alicorn nodding to him so he could stand.

"Chronos," He started, using the Alicorn's name. "I don't see where Leoj is in the wrong. He did everything he could, using the best tactic in his eyes. But I must say, as a former soldier, your judgement is impaired when the one you love is currently in the dungeons of Eric's private fortress." Leoj lowered his head, letting the pent-up despair out in a long, mournful sob. Soarin had been imprisoned, and it was his fault.

Eric kicked open the door to the dungeon cell, a pony on the far wall scrabbling further into the stone. "Good," He said to the pony, sneering and breaking into a mad grin. "You know how to obey. Now let us see if we can break you of that stubborn loyalty." Eric whistled in a shrill note, two large earth pony guards taking up position beside him. "Cuff him, Chain him… And then beat him into unconsciousness. I will return for the show shortly." Eric turned on his heel, walking out of the door as the sound of chains echoed in the underground chamber.

Eric sat at a long oaken table, a feast of meat and fruit before him. In his left gauntlet he held a glass of red liquid, in his right a haunch of beef. Along the table sat nobles and allies of like mind to Eric, they had vowed cooperation for a spot on his political bench. Each one had been to one of these events, a feast and showing, and had indomitable will to his cause. Eric stood from his seat, tapping the edge of the opaque bottle beside him.

"My friends and mutually allied acquaintances, may I bring to myself your attentions." He paused for effect as the ponies and assorted creatures of the world set down their cutlery. "Thank you. First let me begin by thanking Gilda from the eastern Griffin clans and Iridescence from the Diamond Dog Underground for adding their funding to our revolution." He held up his glass, the liquid moving and clinging to the sides for a few seconds before joining the remainder of the glass in the pool. A few of the ponies cringed as the drank the liquid with gusto after the toast, the thought of consuming flesh or blood appalling to them. "Now, I have gathered you all to tell you that the bombing was a grand success." The assembly raised their hooves, claws and paws in silent cheers. "Although the outcome could have been better if black dragon had also been destroyed, this is success in the best of situations. Celestia and Luna are both in a comatose state that could possibly last a lifetime." He set down his glass, leaning on the table. "I plan on making that possibility a definite fact.

"Now I would like to tell you all that your funding and cooperation are not going to waste. Every bit, each ounce of gold and silver, every single gem and jewel are being stored and spent on a tight budget for material and personnel so we can purge the twin sisters damned influence from Equestria. I can forecast that within the month we shall have the government undermined and levered into such a precarious position that they must commit to marshal law. And with the proper approach and tactics, I can guarantee that by winter come we shall be in control as a new and terrifying force of total dominance. Perhaps even the globe shall be encompassed by this rule." He stood back upright, lifting his glass back into his gauntlet. "And now that my lecture is concluded, do any of you have any questions or inquiries?" he sat down as the game of Q&A began.

Soaring stared at the tiled floor of the inner chambers of the fortress as they moved by. The gray and blue tiles moved by at a good clip, his limp and compliant form being pulled by two large and powerful war-horses. He had been imprisoned for nearly a year, any hope of rescue by a friend or loved one now beaten and branded out of him. He was no longer his taught and formed self, having fallen jaunt and frequent an acquaintance to exhaustion and insomnia. His coat was patchy, the brands and burns having incinerated and scarred his flesh. His wings no longer majestic and powerful but misshapen and broken. His jaw hung loose for most of the time he wasn't being tortured of interrogated from a mixture of exhaustion and hunger. He was fed the bare minimum to sustain the life functions of the flesh, chained to walls and floors most of the day and night and visited only by Eric for a weekly beating and guards when they had an itch to scratch.

The guards shifted as they stopped, standing and talking quietly to somepony else. Even though he paid them no mind, he caught brief fragments through his haze of hopelessness. "They ready for him?" silence for a moment. "I'll go check." A door opened and closed, a dim light and smoke escaping in the brief span.

A white pony in a tuxedo pulled gingerly on the cuff of Eric armored arm. Eric bent to the side, listening as the pony whispered to him amongst the clamor of the assembled beings. "The guards have brought the prisoner like you ordered, my lord. Do you want them to bring him in?" Eric scanned over the room, making sure of a few facts. The assembly had finished the last portions of their meals, having filled themselves of the bounty he had provided out of good will and his own pocket. all that was remaining was a suckling pig, a stack of tropical fruits, a bowl of potatoes and roast beef and a large side of beef ribs before the host himself. Their conversation was light but constant, filled with what rumors and gossips the ponies, dogs and griffins had heard in their time away, but a lot of it had been about the promised entertainment for their visit and stay. A pair, a female griffin and a mare, hung on his armor by his side, whispering sweet nothings as whores were wont to do. He nodded, brushing a hoof and pair of talloned forelegs from his armor before standing as the pony walked out of the room.

"May I have your attention once more," Eric projected over the chatter. "As I promised, each of you shall have what ever form of entertainment you choose tonight in your chambers at no expense of yourselves. And please, allow me to sweeten the deal with an object of interest." He waved the white pony at the door, permitting him to bring the prisoner in. "I have for you all tonight a traitor to the new regime and a consort of Black Dragon. He is for all of you to do as you wish tonight at this table, but if you will…" he shrugged slowly, raising his arms and letting them drop while shaking his head slightly. "do not kill him, he holds information that I desire." Two black guard ponies in red steel armor dragged in a pegasus by his forelegs, throwing him onto the cleared portion of the table. Soarin slid across the slick surface and stopped before Eric. He took the ponies jaw in his hands and raised his vision to his face. "Are you ready to talk, Soarin?" Eric asked, getting a blank stare and a slack jaw in return. He waited for a full five minutes before dropping the ponies head back to the table with a dull thump. "So be it." he pushed the pony across the table, motioning to the waiters for them to gather the cutlery and dishes. "Have at the then."

Eric sat down at his place and pulled a leg from the piglet, biting into the flesh as the assembled beings began their malevolent and vile assault of the once revered pegasus.

**You asked for it, and I have presented my future work. This is the first chapter of the story and follow up to My Little Zombies, Hunters To Hunted. I cannot guarantee when the next chapter will be put out, but I felt a certain need to give you all closure and a little assurance that this will be a trilogy with a possible continuation branch of plot lines. Yes, Eric has become completely mad and yes, he is the evil protagonist of this one. The loved characters of Leoj, Mat and Sapphire are now on the run and striking back at the tainted friend under the lead of the Alicorn Chronos, god of time and reality.**

**As always, I must ask you for your opinions and feedback. If you find any inconsistencies or slips in the chapter, do not be afraid to private message me and alert me to these. This goes the same for criticism, PM me anything that you think I did wrong and I will make sure it doesn't happen again.**

**CREDITS!**

**Mat & Sapphire are property of and used with permission from Bahamut Crisis Core.**

**Leoj Clocktum and Black Dragon are property of and used with permission from Timefather64.**

**Please Review! :)**


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